


Hold onto me

by Just_Us



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Domestic Violence, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 15:29:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14405052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Us/pseuds/Just_Us
Summary: Tyler was indeed still awake. Awake, and on his porch strumming a relaxing tune on his ukulele. He spotted the outline of Josh approaching to his left, and made no sign of stopping the song as he spoke. “Here to tell me I’m disturbing the peace?” He asked, tone tired.Josh came to a stand at the edge of the porch, just watching Tyler. He didn’t want to speak. Didn’t honestly know why he even came out here. He’d just found his feet carrying him here instead of up to his bedroom after his father was done hitting him.“You just going to stand there or…” Tyler began as he turned to face Josh. He came to a sudden stop, eyes growing wide as he got a proper look at the other man. “What the hell happened?” He asked, taking in the sight of a beaten and bloodied Josh.“Bad timing.” Josh said lightly with a small shrug, not meeting Tyler’s gaze as the younger man stepped forward and took Josh’s face in gentle hands to inspect the damage.





	Hold onto me

Josh slowly trudged his way down the dirt road to the far side of the ranch. It was late enough that most of the residents were asleep, but he knew the person he was heading towards wouldn’t be. He could see the glow of a lantern in the distance as he continued on.

Josh had known his father was drinking again. He’d known long before he’d stepped into the house that the man was probably drunk out of his mind, given the hour. And he knew the odds of him making it up to his room uninterrupted were slim. But it had been late and he was tired, so he tried going in anyway. The risk seemed worth it. Boy, was he wrong.

Now here he was, at least one bruised rib, his lip split, the right side of his face all swelled up again, and a scar that was opened back up and bleeding freely down his face to leave red spatters down the front of his shirt and pants. Some even got on his boot as he walked along. Dust sticking to the mess as he went.

Tyler was indeed still awake. Awake, and on his porch strumming a relaxing tune on his ukulele. He spotted the outline of Josh approaching to his left, and made no sign of stopping the song as he spoke. “Here to tell me I’m disturbing the peace?” He asked, tone tired.

Josh came to a stand at the edge of the porch, just watching Tyler play the instument. He didn’t want to speak. Didn’t honestly know why he even came out here. He’d just found his feet carrying him here instead of up to his bedroom after his father was done hitting him.

“You just going to stand there or…” Tyler began as he turned to face Josh. He came to a sudden stop, eyes growing wide as he got a proper look at the other man. “What the hell happened?” He asked, taking in the sight of a beaten and bloodied Josh.

“Bad timing.” Josh said lightly with a small shrug, not meeting Tyler’s gaze as the younger man stepped forward and took Josh’s face in gentle hands to inspect the damage.

“I’ll say. What are you doing here? Why didn’t you go get this taken care of?” Tyler asked, as he grabbed Josh by the arm and started to pull him into the house to tend to his injuries.

“It’s not that bad.” Josh said dismissively, taking in the state of things. The fireplace was lit but dying, making the inside brighter than the porch had been for the time being. There was a table, a chair, a rather large bed, and a dresser.

“Bullshit. You can’t even open your eye.” Tyler said as he sat Josh down on the edge of his bed and turned to find the first aid kit he’d brought out for himself with his other supplies.

Josh watched Tyler rummage around a bit before coming back with the red plastic kit in hand.

“So,” Tyler began as he started to clean the blood from Josh’s face carefully. “You wanna tell me what happened? Or am I going to have to guess?”

Josh let his gaze drop to the floor, not even reacting when the alcohol wipe stung at the gash on his cheek.

Heaving a sigh, Tyler finished cleaning Josh’s face and reached for a few stri-stips to close up the gash under the other man’s eye. “Someone obviously did this to you. Was it your mom?” Tyler guessed, studying Josh’s face closely.

Josh snorted at the accusation, because no, his mom had never hit him like this, but his mom had been in the house when his father had, and he didn’t try to stop it.

“Alright. Your dad then? It was him, wasn’t it?” Tyler wagered, his answer coming in the form of a wince from the older man, even though he wasn’t being touched at that moment. “Jesus, Josh. What happened?”

“Like I said, bad timing.” Josh reiterated, watching Tyler grab an instant cold pack from the kit and crack it over his knee before handing it to Josh for his eye.

Heaving anothing sigh, Tyler decided to try a new tactic. “You know my mom hits me too, right? She hasn’t for a while now but I can tell she still wants to sometimes.” Tyler said, pulling out a tube of anti-biotic ointment and putting a little on her finger before dabbing at the point where the spilt in Josh’s lip continued into the skin below it.

Josh blinked up at Tyler, meeting his soft gaze with an almost sheepish look of his own. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Never this bad, but she’s split my lip a few times and given me plenty of bruises.” Tyler said, eyes trained on his work now as he carefully taped a square of gauze over the still oozing gash on Josh’s face. “Last time it happened Madison found me hiding in the bathroom right after. She still doesn’t know.”

“How?” Josh asked, honestly not getting how she couldn’t living under the same room as them.

“I would make up an excuse.” He explained, now cleaning up the supplies from patching Josh up. “All set, aside from your clothes. I’ve got some sweats if you want something to wear that isn’t covered in blood.”

Josh blinked down at himself, finally seeing the generous amount of blood on his clothes for the first time. No wonder he felt a little light headed. “I’ll change at the at home. Should be some clothes kicking around there.” He said, moving to stand. “It’s late, I should go…”

“Wait.” Tyler said, putting a hand on Josh’s shoulder to stop him from walking out. “You’re not walking all the way back like that. Stay here. Beds big enough for two.” Tyler said, patting Josh on the shoulder before turning to retrieve some sleep clothes from the dresser for the both of them.

“Why are you being so nice to me…” Josh mumbled, taking the pair of sweatpants and t-shirt Tyler offered.

“Why’d you come to me instead of going to the medic?” Tyler countered, tossing his dirty work t-shirt and moving to pull on a grey tank top.

Josh paused, fingers clutching the bundle of clothes in his hands as he watched Tyler get changed. “Didn’t really think about it. Just walked out the door when my dad was done hitting me and here I am.” He said, finally turning away from Tyler and starting to get changed himself.

“Why not go to your mom?” Tyler asked, done changing and sitting on the edge of his bed now as Josh worked on tying the drawstring of the sweatpants Tyler had given him.

“She was there.” Josh said, now all too focused on getting the string even before he tied it.

“What do you mean she was there?” Tyler asked, grabbing Josh’s fidgeting hands and stopping them before taking the string doing a bunny eared slip knot.

“I mean, she was standing in the doorway watching me get my ass beat and she didn’t do a god damned thing.” Josh clarified, tone sharp as he pointedly didn’t look at Tyler now.

“Seriously? What the hell! She’s your mother, she’s supposed to look out for you!” Tyler said, anger seeping into his normally relaxed tone. “You aren’t doing anything tomorrow, right?” He asked suddenly.

Josh blinked at Tyler, picking his discarded cold pack up and holding it to his swollen eye again. “No. I'm free all day. Why?”

“Good, we’re both staying here. You can help me write a new song.” Tyler said resolutely before scooching back onto the bed so he was sitting on the side that was along the wall. “Now come on, it’s late and we both need our beauty sleep.” He said, patting the empty space beside him before pulling the massive quilted blanket that covered the whole bed back for the both of them to climb under.

Josh slowly climbed into bed beside Tyler, keeping a respectful distance between the two of them as he got settled. “Someone might come looking for me.” Josh said slowly, watching the flicker of the dying fire cast dancing shadows across the room.

“They do and I’ll tell them to fuck off.” Tyler said with a tired sigh. “Listen. You need to run away for a while. And since I know you would die before abandoning this place, you can stay here with me and I’ll run interference. Sound good?”

Taking a moment to consider it, Josh cracked a small smile. “Sounds perfect.” He agreed.

“Good. Now get some sleep. You look exhausted.” Tyler said, tone going a bit fond as he looked over at Josh.

huffing a laugh Josh closed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. G'night, Tyler.”

“Night, Josh.” Tyler parroted, a yawn escaped his lips after.

The two of them slept better that night than they had before. And the next day no one came looking for Josh as they worked on the song together. It was easy for Tyler to make up an excuse for Josh to stay again that night, and the next, and the next. Until it was their house and not just Tyler's.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first 21 pilots fanfic and I put some time and effort into writing it so I hope you liked the story!  
> Please leave a comment!


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